Frank Ragnow confirms surgery, calls past 48 hours ‘extremely frustrating’

“Knowing I won’t be there to have my guy’s backs going into battle sucks”

On Tuesday, a report from NFL Network suggested that Detroit Lions Pro Bowl center Frank Ragnow was getting season-ending surgery after suffering a turf-toe injury in last week’s game against the Chicago Bears. Early Wednesday morning, the Lions offensive lineman more-or-less confirmed the news via an Instagram post.

“It has been an extremely frustrating past 48 hours,” Ragnow captioned the post. “I take a lot of pride in reliability and knowing I won’t be there to have my guy’s backs going into battle sucks. But the train keeps on rolling and the fellas will be just fine… Had a successful surgery yesterday on my stupid toe and can’t wait to attack the process and get back to 100%. Thanks for all the kind words and support and let’s keep supporting the fellas this Sunday!”

Initially, it didn’t seem like Ragnow’s injury would be season-ending. Lions head coach Dan Campbell said last week seemed to indicate his injury situation was better than that of edge defender Romeo Okwara, who suffered a torn Achilles in the same game.

“Frank, I think, is better than Romes, but I don’t (know),” Campbell said. “He may be out a little bit, too.”

Even the following day after receiving more information, Campbell didn’t appear to believe the injury would threaten Ragnow’s season.

“He’s got, basically, a version of turf toe right now is what he’s got. We’ll know a lot more this afternoon with him. I would say he’s probably going to be out (this week), though.”

Obviously, the situation changed as more information came in, and now it appears Ragnow’s fourth NFL season is over after playing in just four games.

Earlier this year, the Lions signed Ragnow to a four-year contract extension, through the 2026 season, worth $54 million.